The specification of OMA DM relates to a technique for managing, diagnosing and maintaining a mobile terminal device, which enables a Device Management Server (DMS) to manage the terminal device remotely in a manner of Over The Air (OTA). The management operations implemented by the DMS to the terminal device include parameter configuration for the terminal device, firmware update, software installation and upgrading, fault diagnosis, etc. The management operations implemented by the DMS to the terminal device further include management for the ring tone, desktop and tasks of the terminal device.
FIG. 1 is a model view of an overall management architecture according to the DM specification in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, in the model view of the overall management architecture, a Device Management Agent (DM Agent) in the terminal device is used for interpreting and implementing various management commands sent by a DMS. A DM tree stored in the terminal device may be regarded as an interface for managing the terminal device via DM protocol by the DMS. The DM tree includes a set of basic Management Objects (MOs). The DMS controls terminal device resources by means of management operations for each MO in the DM tree. The management commands for operating the MOs in the DM tree by the DMS include getting command (Get), replacing command (Replace), executing command (Exec), copying command (Copy), deleting command (Delete), etc.
FIG. 2 is a structural status diagram illustrating respective MOs of a DM tree in a terminal device of the prior art. As shown in FIG. 2, according to the operating principle of the OMA DM protocol, a DMS may manage a software component in the terminal device through adding, deleting or modifying a relevant Software Component Management Object (SCOMO) of the DM tree in the terminal device. The software components in the terminal device may include an executable application program, a Dynamic Link Library, an UI interface, etc. which are provided by many software providers.
For a software component inhered in a terminal device, a corresponding MO is pre-configured in a DM tree in the terminal device. For example, during the installation of a DM Agent in the terminal device, the DM Agent scans all the software components which have already been installed in the terminal device, generates corresponding MOs, and then adds the generated corresponding MOs to the DM tree. For a software component sent by a DMS to the terminal device, a corresponding MO is generated by an operating command sent from the DMS. For a software component downloaded and installed by a user, in the process of downloading and installation of the software component in the terminal device, a Diagnostic and Monitoring (DiagMon) Agent in the terminal device monitors the installation event in the terminal device and reports relevant information about the software component to the DMS. Then the DMS sends a corresponding operating command based on the information reported by the terminal device, and so a corresponding MO is generated.
For each of capability information possessed by a terminal device (the capability information includes hardware capability, software capability, network communication capability, etc. which are possessed by the terminal device itself), it is also necessary to maintain a corresponding DCMO in a DM tree to describe the capability information, so that the DMS can manage and control the respective capability possessed by the terminal device. For example, if the terminal device possesses a capability of connecting a peripheral device, a corresponding DCMO for describing the information on the peripheral device connected to the terminal device is maintained in the DM tree of the terminal device. When a peripheral device is connected to the terminal device, information on the connected peripheral device is shown in the DCMO. When the peripheral device is removed from the terminal device, default information on the connected interface is shown in the DCMO.
Subsequently, when the capability information possessed by the terminal device changes, the information on the corresponding DCMO maintained in the DM tree requires to be updated timely, so as to describe the changed capability information precisely. Thus, the DMS is allowed to correctly manage and control the capability of the device. At present, when device capability information changes, a process for updating the corresponding MO maintained in the DM tree is as follows:
a terminal device monitors whether some capability information possessed by the device changes by itself;
the terminal device reports the changed capability information to a DMS, and the DMS generates an updated DCMO based on the changed capability information reported by the terminal device, and sends the updated DCMO to the terminal device; and
the terminal device replaces the relevant DCMO maintained in the DM tree with the updated DCMO sent by the DMS.
However, the manner in which; when capability information in a terminal device is updated dynamically, the terminal device reports the updated capability information to a DMS, and the DMS generates an updated DCMO based on the updated capability information, and sends the updated DCMO to the terminal device, has defects as follows.
1. Reporting the updated device capability information to the DMS has to occupy wireless transmission resources. Additionally, sending the updated DCMO to the terminal device by the DMS is also to occupy the wireless transmission resources. Therefore, it causes to waste the precious wireless transmission resources.
2. The DMS is required to analyze the changed and updated capability information reported by the terminal device, to generate a corresponding DCMO based on the structure of the DCMO, and to send the corresponding DCMO to the terminal device. Thus, if the number of the terminal devices reporting the changed and updated capability information is large, payloads of the DMS for processing tasks are increased, and the DMS' system processing resource is wasted.
3. Because the terminal device reports to the DMS the changed and updated capability information, a certain delay may occur during the transmission. Also, because the DMS sends the generated updated DCMO to the terminal device, a certain delay may occur during the transmission. Therefore, during the said delay, it may cause the DMS to fail to manage the changed capability of the terminal device.